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Who We Are

We are Rainy, Lahdeeda, and Sanya. We have jobs, homes, and various dependent life forms tugging us in multiple directions. While we have by some accounts managed to have it all, some of "it" is dirty and cluttered. We do not believe in competitive parenthood, and while it is fascinating that your child has built a particle accelerator out of pine cones, we are perfectly happy with our drooling nosepickers. All three of us are stunningly beautiful, witty party guests, and brilliant writers. That is actually all we have in common, and so Perfectly Normal has quite the range to it.

Take it from us, your home, your family, and your children are all perfectly normal.

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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

I have a couple of regular, wonderful babysitters, and although some of our opinions on child-rearing differ they're too nice to really say anything. Instead they give me looks which I've been learning to interpret. There are looks that say, "When's the last time she had a bath?" or "Those sippy cups have BPA in them." The most recent is, "You can't still be swaddling a 5-month-old."

I am perfecting my own, "You better believe it," look. If I have my way I'll still be swaddling my son when he reaches middle-school age. The sleep results I get from swaddling are nothing short of Miraculous. My baby takes three naps during the day, and I don't have to rock, nurse or walk him to sleep at all. I swaddle him and put him in bed awake, sometimes with a pacifier, and within ten minutes he's usually asleep.

One time I decided to solve all of Sanya's overtired baby problems with my miniature lavender straitjacket. I know she was skeptical when I wrapped up her baby but she got quiet almost as fast as he did when he went to sleep within a couple of minutes and stayed that way for at least an hour. Her little guy was still sleeping peacefully when I left, but I've always wondered if she let him continue sleeping or if she rescued him from his confines.

I swaddled our 3rd child until he was at least 7 months old. It definitely brings them a feeling of comfort and security. I wished our 4th could have been a swaddle baby too, but you can't be both a tummy sleeper and a swaddle baby so I continue to learn things. Usually the hard way.

I contacted the company that makes the Miracle Blanket and they said that it's not recommended to use it after 14 weeks. It's mostly a safety issue. Once they can wiggle out of it, it can get tangled around their necks and be a suffocation and strangulation risk. They've never had an accident reported but they feel strongly that we need to stop using it and mentioned something about 1200% increased risk of SIDS. My twins are 6 months old. We tried NOT swaddling with them for the first time last night and it wasn't so bad.